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REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT 

BY THE 

U.^, COMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENT METHODS. 



Classification of Positions and Gradation of Salaries 
for Employees of the Executive Departments 

and 

Independent Establishments in Washington. 



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AUG 8 1907 
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Treasury Department, 

Washington^ January ^, igo"/. 
To the President: 

We have the honor to submit herewith a schedule of classiiication of positions 
and of gradation of salaries for employees of the Executive Departments and inde- 
pendent establishments in Washington, or directly on detail therefrom, with certain 
recommendations for giving effect to the same. 

In this schedule the grades and salaries have been arranged with the following 
purposes especially in view: 

1. The lower salaries sufficiently high to attract competent persons to the 
service. 

2. Salaries sufficiently graded to assure frequent promotion, as a stimulus to 
the best efforts. 

3. The higher salaries sufficiently high to develop and retain the best executive 
and expert service. 

4. The gradation and equalization of salaries in all Departments according to 
the character and the responsibility of the work performed. 



SCHEDULE. 

SUBCLERICAL GRADES. 



Employees whose work occupies onl}' part of the time each daj', as charwomen, 



Salaries. 
[ $240 



jamtors, etc [ ^^^ 



Emploj'ees who enter the service at an earl}' age (14 to 18 years), and are 
engaged in light work, as messenger boys 



Employees engaged in rough and unskilled work, as laborers generally . 



Employees whose duties are not clerical or mechanical, but require some special 
skill or involve personal responsibility, as messengers, watchmen, classified 
laborers, sorters, counters, etc , 

No person whose principal duties are as above shall be paid over $840. 

(3) 



300 
360 
420 
480 

606 
660 

660 
720 
780 
840 



CLERICAL GRADES. 

Under clerks. — Employees who are assigned to clerical work of a simple or routine 
character requiring care, accuracy, and skill 

Examples of such work are mere copying and typewriting; simple index- 
ing; filing cards and papers; briefing contents of letters or documents on back; 
preparing letters by filling blank forms for official signature; mailing or 
dispatching; easier stenograph}-; simple bookkeeping, requiring but little 
knowledge of the theory of accounts. 

Junior clerks. — Emploj-ees who are assigned to clerical work of a routine char- 
acter requiring but little original thought or consideration, but requiring 
judgment, responsibility, and special skill 

Examples of such work are preparing briefs of papers in a case for 
recording ; expert filing ; examining property returns ; ptoof reading ; 
issuance and distribution of supplies ; examining vouchers and disbursing 
accounts, under the application of simple standards or requirements ; record- 
ing cases and tran.sactions where considerable judgment is required to 
determine the relative importance of factors, and preparing an adequate 
index thereof ; the ascertaining of facts independently and drafting action 
on average cases ; composing and preparing letters for official signature ; 
stenography requiring skill and practice ; bookkeeping involving a knowl- 
edge of the theory of accounts and departmental records and precedents. 

Clerks. — Emploj-ees who are assigned to work more or less routine, involving 
responsibility, special ability, and original thought, consideration, and inves- 
tigation 

Examples of such work are directing and instructing clerks of lower 
grades; expert stenography; editing; the a,scertaining of facts independently 
in complicated cases, and drafting action thereon; serving as confidential 
clerk to head of department or bureau; bookkeeping involving an extended 
knowledge of Department records and precedents and the handling of intri- 
cate accounts; recording complex and difficult cases and properly indexing 
the same; service in purchasing and issuing supplies; service as paying teller; 
examining mone}' accounts requiring familiaritj' with the laws and with 
regulations and requirements of the Treasury Department. 

Senior clerks. — Employees who are assigned to work largely supervisory, or 
requiring the highest order of clerical ability, involving much original 
thought, consideration, and investigation 

Examples of stich work are the investigation of large and intricate cases, 
requiring familiarity with the laws and decisions of courts and with Depart- 
ment practice and policy, and the drafting of action thereon; the conduct of 
such investigations with the aid of assistants, whose work must be directed 
and correlated; service as paying teller with large responsibility; acting as 
chiefs of sections or divisions, and preparing or laying out work for others. 



Salaries. 

$900 

960 



020 
080 



200 
260 
320 
380 



1,500 
I, 620 
1.740 



860 
980 
100 



SUPERVISORY GRADE. 

Chiefs of divisions and chief clerks. — Eniplo3-ees who 
executive, and administrative duties 



perform supervisory, 




PROFESSIONAI,, SCIENTIFIC, AND TECHNICAI,, AND MISCELI^ANEOUS 

EMPLOYEES. 

The salaries of these shall be assimilated, as far as practicable, to the scale 
established for clerical and higher grades. The number and variety of 
designations shall be as small as practicable; and the duties assigned to such 
employees shall be confined as far as possible within the lines indicated by 
their titles and for which they may have passed examinations. 

Any Hue of work not herein mentioned should be assigned to the grade 
to which, on careful comparison, it seems most nearly related. 

SKILLED TRADES EMPLOYEES. 

No fixed scale of compensation is recommended, but whatever salaries 
are determined upon should conform to the grades fixed in the schedule. 

EXPLANATION OF SCHEDULE. 

The number of titles has been reduced, and at the same time the number of 
different salary grades has been increased. The interval between salaries in the 
lower grades is small ($60), while that between the higher grades offers the 
opportunity for a greater promotion ($120). The salaries of $480, $600, and 
$720 for clerical work are eliminated, and several classes above $1,800 are added. 

For professional, scientific, technical, skilled trades, and miscellaneous employees, 

no graded scale is submitted. So great is the diversity among such employees that 

each establishment emplo3dng them can best determine their proper gradation. It 

is only required that their salaries be, so far as possible, adjusted to the scale fixed 

in the schedule,' and that they be given corresponding grades and titles whenever 

these are applicable. The designations "under," "junior," and "senior," are 

proposed as preferable to "aid," "assistant," etc.; for example: 

Junior biologist. Junior topographer. Junior geologist. 

Biologist. Topographer. Geologist. 

Senior biologist. Senior topographer. Senior geologist. 

Chief biologist. Chief topographer. Chief geologist. 

All the salaries proposed, it will be observed, are multiples of 12. The sundry 
civil act for the fiscal year 1905 requires that the annual compensation of employees 
of the United States shall be divided into 12 equal installments, one of which 
shall be paid for each calendar month. The inconvenience of applying this rule to 
salaries not divisible by 12 has proved to be very considerable, and indicates that in 
any rearrangement that may be effected every annual salary ought to be a sum 
which, when divided by 12, will give a convenient quotient of even dollars, avoiding 
the occurrence of cents or of repetends. 

The adoption of the schedule proposed in this report would make an important, 
and we think very desirable, change in the departmental practice relating to promo- 
tions. The clerical force, under the plan proposed, is divided into four main divi- 
sions — under clerks, junior clerks, clerks, and senior clerks — but fourteen different 



rates of compensation are provided for. For example, under the head of junior 
clerks four different rates of compensation are provided, namely, $1,200, $1,260, 
$1,320, and $1,380; and the general character of the duties of a junior clerk is defined 
in the schedule. Sixty-dollar promotions within the range from $1,200 to $1,380 
are therefore made possible, and in making such promotions it is expected that 
length of service and the quality and quantity of work done will form the guiding 
considerations. When a junior clerk is receiving $1,380, the highest rate of com- 
pensation provided for the class of work which he or she is doing, the next promotion 
will involve an increase of $120 a j^ear and a change of designation from junior clerk 
to clerk. It is not expected that a promotion of this kind will take place without a 
change in the character of the work done. A clerk receiving such a promotion must 
have demonstratedj by his general intelligence and- ability, his capacity to perform a 
higher grade of work than that which he has been doing, and the promotion will 
involve a change of occupation. 

It is a well-known fact that through all the Departments people are sitting 
side by side doing the same class of work and receiving very different compen- 
sation. Some clerks doing the simplest kind of work are, by reason of length of 
service, receiving high salaries, while young men only recently certified by the 
Civil Service Commission, whose general intelligence and ability soon cause them 
to be assigned to the most difficult work in the office, have to wait many years 
before they receive the recognition in salary that the character of their work 
justifies. A large proportion of the injustice and favoritism in the Government 
service springs from this cause; aud while no system can be made to fit every 
individual case, the adoption of the general principle involved in the schedule at 
the beginning of this report will very largely reduce injustice of this kind now 
existing. 

PRESENT SYSTEM AND NEED OF RECLASSIFICATION. 

A reclassification of jDositions, with a readjxistment of salaries graded so that the 
differences in salary shall represent actual differences in character of work and 
responsibility, has long been needed in the interest of efficient and economical admin- 
istration. The salaries now paid in the departmental service in Washington are 
based upon a classification of the clerks made in acts of Congress of 1853 and 1854, 
both being effective from July i, 1853. These acts graded the entire clerical force 
(except the Departments of State and Justice) into four classes, designated as first, 
second, third, and fourth class clerks, and fixed the compensation of these classes at 
$1,200, $1,400, $1,600, and $1,800, respectively. The average salary of the 700 
clerks provided for in these acts was $1,446. The Departments and ■bureaus of 
1853 were small. The organization was thus compact and comparatively simple, 
and the work of direction and supervision not especially exacting. The four 



grades, it ma}' be assumed, established distinctions fairly sufficient to mark the 
grades of work and responsibility among the classes of clerks as the departmental 
service was then organized. 

Since 1853, as the country has grown and the needs of the Government have 
called for a larger force for the transaction of its business, from time to time addi- 
tional positions have been created, divisions have been added, and new bureaus have 
been established, until at the present time the departmental service in Washington 
employs in clerical and professional, scientific, and technical positions approximately 
13,000 persons, and the service administered by these employees numbers in Wash- 
ington and elsewhere over 150,000 persons. There are now individual bureaus 
that have more employees than the entire departmental service in 1853. There 
are to-day division chiefs who are' required to pass upon questions of greater com- 
plexity and involving greater responsibility than were the bureau chiefs of fifty 
years ago. 

Despite this enormous growth in the departmental service no consistent plan 
has ever been followed in making the additions, nor has au}^ effort ever been made 
to reclassify the^i^ositions or to adjust the salaries with any reference to the class of 
duties performed or the responsibilities borne. The four classes of salaries estab- 
lished in 1853 have been accepted as still furnishing a proper basis of compensation, 
and other classes have been added from time to time by appropriation acts and by 
administrative officers in handling lump funds. As a result there is now general 
confusion in the salary grades of emploj-ees. Not only is there great diversity of 
compensation for the same kinds of work, but persons receiving the higher salaries 
may be found performing the simplest routine work, while others in the lowest 
grades are performing work of the most exacting character. Professional, technical, 
and scientific work especially are notoriously underpaid as compared with clerical 
work, and a comparison of salaries for such work shows the greatest inequali- 
ties. Throughout the entire service the relation of the easier position, the more 
difficult position, and the responsible supervisory position has not for many years 
been adequately distinguished by the salary grades. 

From j^ear to year, and especially within a period of two or three years, some 
reorganization and revision of method, tending toward a systematization of the work, 
have gone on in the different bureaus and offices. This has been done after a care- 
ful study of the work in outside business establishments and a comparison of office 
with office, and has been accomplished quietly, without the knowledge of the public, 
and in the ordinary way of readjustment of the work of a well-conducted office. So 
far as a reclassification of the entire service and a grading of the salaries in propor- 
tion to the work and responsibility are concerned, nothing has been done -within a 
half century. 



PRINCIPLES FOR RECLASSIFICATION. 

Any plan for a reclassification of tlie departmental service and a grading of 
salaries should have for its primary purpose the betterment of the service, and such 
a plan will in the end secure more economical administration. So far as possible 
the same principles should be applied to the Government service as are employed in 
all successful business establishments. These principles may be briefly stated as 
follows : 

1. Salaries sufficiently high to attract competent persons to the service. 

2. Frequent promotions, strictly according to merit, as a stimulus 'to the best 
efforts. 

3. Security of tenure during loyal and efficient service. 

The highest efficiency of the personnel depends upon these principles. Their 
faithful application will make for efficiency in the public service in the same measure 
as in the business world. 

SALARIES IN COVERNMENT AND PRIVATE SERVICE. 

A systematic effort has been made to obtain information from business estab- 
lishments of various kinds respecting the gradation and salaries of their employees, 
and returns were received from about fifty, including municipalities, railroads, 
insurance companies, large stores, and manufacturing establishments. These have 
been compared with similar returns in regard to the classes and salaries in the Depart- 
ments. It is difficult to make a reliable comparison respecting the great mass of 
positions, because of the impossibility of comparing the value and effectiveness of 
services rendered. In general it is found that directive and supervisory agents and 
those using technical skill or expert knowledge are much better paid in private and 
corporate employ than under the Government, that the better grades of efficient and 
well-qualified clerical employees are somewhat better paid than are those in similar 
positions in the Departments, and that the lower grades of clerks, stenographers, 
and typewriters are better paid in the public service than in private employ. 

That the lower grades of clerical employees in the Government service are better 
paid than persons in similar work in private employ has long been generally recog- 
nized. But the experience of administrative officers and of the Civil Service Com- 
mission in securing competent eligibles to fill the lower positions proves conclusively 
that the lower salaries are not sufficient to attract competent persons to the service. 
These positions have been found the hardest of all to fill with persons actually com- 
petent, under the standard maintained by the Commission and the Executive Depart- 
ments. Thus, in the last fiscal year, 1,462 persons were offered positions at less than 
$900 in the Departments at Washington. Of these, 442, or 30.23 per cent, declined. 
Positions at $900 or more were offered to 762 persons, and 202, or 26.51 per cent, 



declined. Under the War Department the declinations of positions in Washington 
rose to 32 per cent, while the declinations of field positions reached 53 per cent. Of 
the 860 male eligibles on the clerical register of the Civil Service Commission, 445, 
or 51.73 per cent, have stated that they would not accept positions at a salary lower 
than $840. 

EFFICIENCY AND PERMANENCY IN SERVICE. 

The very serious consequence of these declinations is that the most competent 
and desirable eligibles decline the salaries that can be offered, and it is necessary to 
appoint in their stead persons distinctly inferior in qualifications. This is a matter 
seriously affecting the quality of the personnel since it is by promotion from the 
lower grades that the service is built up. 

It is plain that such salaries as $480, $600, and $720 a year, "which have become 
quite common in several Departments of late, are entirely too low for any person 
who has passed creditably a civil-service examination for the clerical grades, and that 
they tend to the deterioration of the service. 

Although frequent examinations at numerous points are held for the purpose it 
is extremely difficult to secure properly qualified persons for many positions paying 
from $720 to $1,500 a year. This fact, together with the large number of resigna- 
tions which take place in these grades, clearly indicates that the same character of 
service commands a higher compensation in private than in public employ, or that 
the public service does not offer adequate promise of advancement. 

In 1906 there were 569 resignations of positions below $900 in Washington, 
compared with 1,020 acceptances of similar places, and 664 resignations at $900 or 
more, compared with 560 acceptances. The total resignations were 1,233- and the 
total acceptances 1,580. In less than six years 676 persons have retired from the 
force of the War Department employed in Washington. Of this number 2 28, or 
33.75 per cent, usually the more efficient young men with salaries averaging $1,051 
a year, left the service voluntarily to better their condition. 

CONDITIONS FOR FAIR COMPARISON. 

Several important conditions must be borne in mind when a comparison is 
urged between the small wages paid in certain lines by corporations and private 
employers and the alleged high salaries under the Government. Applicants for 
appointment in the Departments must prove a high standard of character, and must 
pass a rigid examination to test their qualifications. Furthermore, the law apportion- 
ing positions among the States and Territories requires that many eligibles entering 
the service shall leave homes far distant from Washington and take up their resi- 
dence in a strange city under conditions of life generally more expensive than 
those to which they have been accustomed. 



lO 

On the other hand, most of the positions which constitute the entrance to 
private and corporate employ are recruited from girls and boys of the teeming 
population in the mill towns and commercial centers, who compete for employment 
as soon as they possess the rudiments of common school education or even without 
that qualification, and who generallj' live at home, contributing to and deriving their 
support from the common fund. They afford no criterion for a scale of salaries for 
persons possessing the high degree of general education or special training now 
required for entrance into the Government service — a degree of education and 
training necessary for the proper conduct of the public business in any of its 
branches. 

It must be borne in mind that the requirements of the |)ublic business are 
widely different from those of a private office or commercial firm. The object of the 
latter is gain merely. Its directive power and responsibilities are within itself. 
Its employees are supervised by the owners and beneficiaries of the business. On 
the other hand, the employee of the Government is responsible to a line of superior 
officers, and finally to Congress and the people of the United States. He must 
transact his business in accordance with numerous statutes. His records must be 
perfectly kept, every transaction must be completely set forth, every letter must be 
correct in form and substance, so that a full account may be rendered at any moment. 
To this end system and method must everywhere prevail, requiring the constant 
service of trained and loyal eniplo37ees. A very slight inspection of the correspond- 
ence, methods, and administrative details of the vast majoritj^ of business establish- 
ments will prove that the}? are far below any standard which would be tolerated in 
a public office. 

MINIMUM SALARY AND PROMOTIONS. 

The foregoing considerations make it clear that no salary lower than $900 
a year should be paid as compensation for clerical work in the departmental 
service. No lower salary can be paid if the standard of character and ability in 
the personnel of the Departments is to be maintained. 

The principles recognized in business of whatever kind require that promo- 
tions be sufficiently frequent to encourage the employee to put forth his best efforts. 
That a reclassification of salaries in the departmental service into grades and classes 
which will permit more freqitent promotions would be in accord with the best 
business practice, and would increase the efficiency of the Government service, is 
the opinion of all who are familiar with the work and the personnel of the 
service. 

There seems to be no good reason why the established difference between all 
salary classes should be as great as $200. It is believed that a difference of $60 
a year would have the advantage of permitting more frequent promotions and would 



II 

be a reasonable interval between the lower classes, and that between the intermediate 
and higher classes a difference of $120 would make a reasonable advance. The 
grades should be distinctly marked by titles indicating the increasing importance of 
the higher positions as well as the higher character of the work and the greater 
increase in compensation. 

The salary classes for the clerical force should not only be numerous enough 
to promise frequent promotion, but the salaries for the positions involving the 
more responsible- work should be sufficiently high to induce those of capacity and 
education in the service to fit themselves for the highest class of work and 
furthermore sufficiently high to retain such persons in the service. For such a 
purpose the differences between the higher clerical grades and the supervisory 
grades and technical positions should be fixed more in accordance with the value 
placed upon such training and abilities in the business world. That the salaries 
of the higher positions in the Departments have never been adjusted to a proper 
proportion with the clerical grades is familiar knowledge, for it is in these positions 
that the greatest inconsistencies and inequalities exist. 

SUPERVISORY, TECHNICAL, AND PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS. 

The strong attraction of the opportunities and unlimited possibilities of 
the business world has been especiall}^ emphasized within a recent period by the 
numerous resignations from supervisory, technical, and professional positions in the 
Government service. The inadequate compensation for the higher positions and 
the limited opportunities for advancement result in mau}^ resignations from clerical 
positions of j^oung men of ability and force of character. If an early readjustment 
does not offer proper recognition of executive ability and adequate compensation 
for executive and supervisory work and for the various classes of technical and 
professional work, the standard of Government work will suffer as regards both 
the quality and cost of the -work. 

That the salaries in the departmental service should be graded with regard to 
the work and responsibility attached to the various positions is a proposition that 
would seem to require no argument. But under the system at present in effect there 
are no uniform or fixed requirements for each grade, and persons who are never 
called upon to perform the higher classes of work and who are without the capacity 
to perform such work may have reached the higher grades merel}' on account 
of seniorit}/ or faithful service. A scheme of salaries devised to secure efficient 
and economical administration should make it impossible in the future for persons 
to be promoted to the higher grades without the capacity to perform the work of such 
grades. 



12 

A careful study of all the conditions surrounding tlie work in tlie departmental 
service and of the considerations set forth in the foregoing pages has resulted in the 
schedule presented at the beginning of this report. 

READJTJSTMENT OF SALARIES. 

The results of the application of the proposed schedule according to the princi- 
ples set down therein would then be — 

1. The raising of salaries of all clerical positions below $900 a year to $900. 

2. The readjusting of salaries of the directive and supervisory positions and 
professional, technical, and scientific positions, according to the character of work 
and responsibilit}^, which would bring about an increase of salary for many, but not 
by any means for all such positions. 

3. The readjusting of salaries for the intermediate positions between $900 and 
the supervisory grades, now distributed into a few regular and many irregular 
classes, so as to distribute them into fourteen regular classes. The plan of the read- 
justment in these classes, which include the great mass of clerical employees, does 
not contemplate any increase all along the line, but merely the creation of several 
higher classes for those positions involving the more exacting and responsible work 
below the supervisory grade, and more frequent classes in the grades still lower down. 
The readjustment of these classes would effect some individual reductions in the 
compensation of those persons who are receiving salaries out of proportion to the 
work they are performing, as well as some promotions for those whose work merits 
it. The smaller differences between salary grades will help to make these readjust- 
ments easier. 

COST OF RECLASSIFICATION AND REASONS THEREFOR. 

To ascertain the cost of the reclassification of positions and the readjustment of 
salaries, according to the principles and rates of the foregoing schedule, estimates 
have been made for a number of offices differing as to the character of their work. 
These estimates show that an increase in the appropriations for the payment of 
salaries of approximately 10 per cent would be necessary to effect this readjustment. 
A variation was found in the cost of applying the schedule to the different offices, 
due partly to the diff'erence in size of the offices, partly to the differing character of 
the work, and partly to the fact that some of the positions and offices of more recent 
creation are upon a salary basis more nearly in accord with the value of the service 
performed than are others. 

The chief difficulty in the proposed reclassification of emplo3^ees will be to make 
sure that the same importance be always given to certain lines of substantially similar 
work performed in different bureaus and Departments. This may be assured by a 
careful observance of the foregoing schedule in regard to the character of work 



13 

appropriate to the several clerical grades, or by the determination of a board of equal- 
ization appointed by the head of each Department for the express purpose of securing 
uniformity in making the change from the present to the proposed schedule. 

The reasons which have been considered in examining the question of a reclassifi- 
cation of the departmental service are reasons which strictly concern the good of the 
service; that is to say, reasons which affect its organization and its efficient and 
economical administration. As will have been observed, no consideration has been 
given to the fact that the cost of living has enormously increased since 1853, due 
(i) to the growth of Washington within that period from a straggling town of 40,000 
to a great city of over 300,000, (2) to a very much higher standard of living, and (3) 
to a marked increase within the last ten years in the prices of nearly all commodi- 
ties. Nor has any mention been made of the fact that the compensation of labor 
in all other industries and occupations has increased enormously in the last half 
century, and especially within the last decade. The conclusion that there is urgent 
need of a reclassification and regrading of the departmental service has been arrived 
* at entirely apart from these considerations. Nevertheless, the question of a general 
increase in salaries on account of -these changes can not be ignored. The single 
fact of the growth of the capital from a town of. 40,000 to a great city of over 
300,000, even without other causes, necessarily means a much higher expense for 
the necessaries of life, and is in itself a powerful reason urging a readjustment of 
the standard of compensation. 

The strongest reason for a general increase in the salaries of Government 
emplo3^ees is in the increased compensation of all other classes of workers, whether 
in professional, commercial, or manufacturing pursuits. Since 1853, when Govern- 
ment salaries were last classified, this increase has been fairly stead}', in spite of 
some fluctuations. The report of the Senate Finance Committee on Wholesale 
Prices, Wages, and Transportation, published in 1893, shows that between 1853 and 
1890 daily wages of employees in 21 industries investigated increased 73.1 per cent. 

WAGE.S AND COST OF LIVING. 

Since 1S90 the course of wages in all occupations has been steadily upward. 
The reports of the Bureau of Labor of the Department of Commerce and Labor 
upon wages in 42 industries since 1890 show that in 1905 hourly wages in those 
industries had increased 18.5 per cent over the year 1890. Reports covering the 
same industries are of course not yet obtainable for the 5'ear 1906, but it is believed 
that the increases during that year were greater and more general than in any other 
single year. 

While no figures are available to show earnings in professional and commercial 
pursuits, it is not to be doubted that the increases since 1853 and since 1890 have 
been as great as in the 21 industries covered by the report of the Senate Finance 



14 

Committee up to 1890, and in the 42 industries covered by the reports of the Bureau 
of Labor from 1890 to 1905. 

The marked increase in the prices of commodities since 1890, and especially 
during the past decade, is shown in the reports on prices issued by the Bureau of 
Labor. Bulletin No. 65 of that Bureau shows that the cost of the staple articles of 
food throughout the United States was higher in 1905 than in any year since 1890, 
and that the course of prices has been steadily upward since 1896. These figures 
show that the cost of food (the several articles being weighted according to family 
consumption) was 17.7 per cent higher in 1905 than in 1896. 

CONDITIONS IN WASHINGTON. 

The prices for i'9o6 for the entire country are not yet available, but from an 
investigation covering prices in Washington, just completed, it was found that the 
average cost of food in this city was 4.4 per cent higher during the year 1906 than 
dtiring 1905. The course of prices throughout the year was steadily upward in 
nearly all articles of food, and there is no indication that the limit has yet been 
reached. The prices for December were the highest of the year, being 3.9 per cent 
higher than the average prices for the year 1906. The prices for December were 
therefore 8.5 per cent above the average for 1905. The prices for December, 1906, 
in Washington, are thus shown to have been 27.67 per cent higher than the average 
prices of 1896 covering the whole country. 

An investigation in Washington of the retail prices of white-ash anthracite 
stove coal has recently been made, covering a period of twenty-one years. The facts 
disclosed by this inquiry show that the 1906 prices of coal were 25 per cent higher 
than those of 1886 and 30 per cent higher than those of 1890. 

In the matter of rents likewise there has been a gradual advance. The growth 
and development of the city and the progress of public improvements have resulted 
in the displacement of many houses of the older type. With the largely increased 
cost of materials and labor the newer houses of corresponding size, but equipped 
with sanitary improvements and modern conveniences, can be had only at consid- 
erably higher rental. While many would be willing to dispense with some of the 
modern improvements and actually seek for the older houses for the sake of lower 
rental, the number of such houses is few in comparison with the demand, and the 
average householder must take the newer house at the higher price. 

It is not possible to give figures representing with exactness the increases 
during recent years in the cost of clothing, furniture, life insurance, and the many 
miscellaneous necessaries of the household. ' But in all of the articles enumerated 
and in many others the increase in price has been large — as large, it may be safely 



15 

said, as tiie average for the classes of articles given where the increase is certainly 
known. 

The pressure of the increases in the prices of all the necessaries of life is familiar 
to all. The Government emplo^^ee feels the increase the more keenly because of the 
fact that those engaged in similar lines of business, by reason of their increased earn- 
ings, have been able to maintain a higher standard of living and are now able to 
meet the extremely high prices of the present time. For a period of years there 
has been a steady upward movement toward a more liberal standard of living — a 
movement which even the most penurious self-denial can not wholly resist. Salaries 
which were formerly acceptable to men of ability, as enabling them to live and sup- 
port their families on a fair scale of comfort, are now quite inadequate to meet the 
social, educational, and other demands necessarily incident to their positions. 

Because of the reasons which have been set forth in the foregoing pages this 
committee submits the following recommendations : 

REICOMMENDATIONS. 

1. That Congress be asked to make an appropriation of a sum equivalent to lo 
per cent of the total amount provided for in the pending appropriation bills for the 
payment of salaries (whether statutory or paid from lump funds) of employees of 
each of the bureaus and offices of the Executive Departments and independent 
establishments in Washington, or directly on detail therefrom, for the fiscal j^ear 
beginning July i, 1907, for the purpose of adapting the compensation of such 
employees for that fiscal year to the schedule submitted. 

2. That Congress be asked further to authorize and direct that the head of each 
Bxecutive Department and independent establishment in Washington prepare a 
classification of positions and salaries of employees in his office in Washington, or 
on direct detail therefrom, in accordance with the schedule herewith submitted and 
within the sums appropriated for the payment of such salaries for the fiscal year 
beginning July i, 1907, including the increase provided for in recommendation i, 
the said classification to provide for the same number of employees and, as near 
as may be, with due regard to the principles of this schedule, following the same 
relative distribution of classes as provided for in the pending appropriation bills 
for the fiscal year beginning July i, 1907. That it be further provided by 
Congress that such classification when formally' approved by the President shall be 
followed in the payment of salaries in each office during the fiscal year beginning 
July I, 1907, and that future estimates presented to Congress be based upon this 
classification. 



i6 

3. That a committee be formed, composed of a representative of each Bxecutive 
Department and independent establishment in Washington, designated by the head 
thereof, whose duty it shall be to consider the character of the work performed in 
the several bureaus and offices and the salaries paid therefor and to recommend such 
further adjustments or other measures as will bring about a general uniformity of 
compensation in all public offices, for the same kind of work, such recommendations 
to be considered in the preparation of future estimates. 

Respectfully submitted. 

C. H. Keep, 
Lawrence O. Murray, 
JamEvS Rudolph Garfield, 

GiFFORD PiNCHOT, 

CoiiuniHee on Department Methods. 
O 



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